Trade flows decreased last year due to geopolitical unrest and economic challenges, which was a reversal from the post-pandemic growth seen in 2021 and 2022. In its latest Trade Register report, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Banking Commission predicted a 7.4% drop in trade and supply chain finance revenue in 2023 over 2022.
But until 2032, when trade is expected to reach an estimated $91 billion, the ICC also projects an annual increase of 3.8%. The Electronic Trade Documents Act (ETDA), which went into effect with great fanfare in September 2023 and grants digital versions of international trade documents, like bills of lading, the same legal recognition under English law as their traditional paper counterparts, is likely to encourage trade because of the convenience it creates.
Even though the legal framework is in place now, we shouldn’t count on a seamless transition to digitalization. According to Enno-Burghard Weitzel, SVP for Strategy, Digitalization, and Business Development at Surecomp, a provider of digital trade finance platforms, people still need to alter their habits and perspectives. “You need to let go of the paper, and you need to trust that going with a digital solution will give you the same benefits and comfort. Because while we all dislike paper for its downside, it has benefits.”
Weitzel thinks paper will stay sticky for a while, much like the dollar, which has proven crisis-proof since the 1944 Bretton Woods agreement, making it the preferred currency for international trade. “We need that mental shift, and I contend that we still have a ways to go in that direction.”
The ambitious “25 by 25 pledge” was started by the Baltic and International Maritime Council, the world’s largest direct membership organization for shipowners, charterers, shipbrokers, and agents. The pledge commits some of the largest shippers in the world’s bulk sector to using electronic bills of lading to move 25% of their annual seaborne trade volume for at least one commodity by 2025.
Weitzel believes that corporates, not banks, will spur innovation to achieve gains in efficiency and convenience, given the difficult task that lies ahead. According to Mencía Bobo, global head of Trade and Working Capital Solutions at Santander Corporate & Investment Banking (Santander CIB), banks need to be dedicated to embracing technological advancements to promote inclusivity and equity, as well as anticipating the needs that will arise from their clients’ digitalization journeys.
“From transforming a traditional paper-based industry such as the documentary trade into a fully digitalized sector to supporting corporates in digitizing their [business-to-business] sales by granting credit to small buyers, or embedding our supply chain and receivables finance platform into our clients’ [enterprise resource planning],” says Bobo, “Santander CIB is proud of having established this year key alliances with major players of the tech industry that are allowing us to lead the trade transformation and facilitate the day-to-day business of our clients.”
Additionally, it creates chances for nonbanks to offer trade finance. The managing director of Casterman Advisory and something of a trade-tech icon is André Casterman. According to him, asset managers are drawn to the e-bills of exchange offered by the ETDA because of the new climate change regulations (a transaction involving carbon offset, for example, will generate a better environmental, social, and governance score). Additionally, fraud prevention measures will allay the worries of credit insurers, who might verify electronic bills of exchange on open blockchains, for instance.
Blockchain technology was once thought to be the answer to powering digital trade finance. Since 2016, banks have poured money into several trade-focused consortia, but because they are building isolated ecosystems, the consortia are not living up to the initial expectations. Contour was the most recent major distributed ledger platform owned by a bank to shut down last year, joining the ranks of TradeLens, we.trade, and Marco Polo Network.
Blockchain will continue to play a part in trade finance, but it will do so in tandem with other technologies due to its capacity to enhance security, expedite processes, and promote transparency. Digital ledger technology, in Casterman’s opinion, may even open up new asset classes to retail investors, such as trade finance.
Swift recently published the first application programming interface (API) standard for bank guarantees in partnership with the ICC. All stakeholders will be able to communicate through API-based open platforms, which should increase fintech engagement and spur more innovation. Banks will still be crucial to trade finance, but there will soon be a more open option.
Editors of Global Finance choose the winners of the Supply Chain Finance and Trade Finance Awards with help from technology specialists, business executives, and industry analysts. The editors take into account both objective and subjective factors when evaluating entries and independent research. While entry is not required to win, the extra details included in an entry may improve the odds of success. The ratings for this year, which span eight regions and roughly 100 nations, territories, and districts, were determined by looking at data from the 2022–2023 quarter.
A proprietary algorithm with criteria, including understanding customer needs, financial stability and strength, strategic partnerships, capital investment, and innovation, is used by Global Finance. These ratings are combined by the algorithm into a single numerical score, where 100 represents perfection. We give preference to privately owned institutions over government-owned ones and to local providers over global ones when multiple institutions receive the same score.
| Global Winners | |
| Best Trade Finance Provider – Bank | BNY Mellon |
| Best Trade Finance Provider – Non-Bank | Finastra |
| Most Innovative Bank for Trade Finance | Santander |
| Best Trade Document Management | LiquidX |
| Best Use of Artificial Intelligence in Trade Finance | Intesa Sanpaolo |
| Best Provider of Sustainable Finance Solutions in Trade Finance | BNP Paribas |
| Best Trade Finance Software Provider | Surecomp |
| Best DLT Platform for Trade Finance | Taurus |
| Best Bank for Export Finance | Credit Agricole |
| Best Bank for Trade Finance in Emerging Markets | TDB Group |
| Best Bank for Trade Finance in Frontier Markets | British Arab Commercial Bank |
| Regional Winners | |
| Africa | Standard Bank |
| Asia-Pacific | DBS |
| Caribbean | Caribbean Development Bank |
| Central & Eastern Europe | Raiffeisen Bank International |
| Latin America | BBVA |
| Middle East | Bank ABC |
| North America | MUFG |
| Western Europe | Societe Generale |
| Country and Territory Winners | |
| Algeria | Societe Generale |
| Angola | BFA |
| Argentina | Santander |
| Armenia | Converse Bank |
| Australia | ANZ |
| Austria | Raiffeisen Bank International |
| Azerbaijan | Kapitalbank |
| Bahrain | Bank ABC |
| Bangladesh | Standard Chartered |
| Belgium | Belfius |
| Bolivia | Banco Ganadero |
| Bosnia & Herzegovina | Raiffeisen Bank International |
| Botswana | First Capital Bank |
| Brazil | Banco do Brasil |
| Bulgaria | United Bulgarian Bank |
| Burkina Faso | Ecobank |
| Cambodia | BRED Bank |
| Cameroon | Ecobank |
| Canada | Royal Bank of Canada |
| Chile | Banco Itaú Chile |
| China | DBS |
| Colombia | BBVA |
| Costa Rica | Scotiabank |
| Cote d’Ivoire | Ecobank |
| Croatia | Zagrebacka banka |
| Cyprus | Cyprus Development Bank |
| Czech Republic | CSOB Czech Republic |
| Denmark | Nordea |
| Dominican Republic | Banreservas |
| Egypt | Banque du Caire |
| El Salvador | Banco Cuscatlán |
| Estonia | SEB |
| Finland | Nordea |
| France | Societe Generale |
| Georgia | TBC Bank |
| Germany | Commerzbank |
| Ghana | Ecobank |
| Greece | National Bank of Greece |
| Guatemala | Citi |
| Honduras | Citi |
| Hong Kong | Standard Chartered |
| Hungary | K&H Bank |
| India | Standard Chartered |
| Indonesia | Standard Chartered |
| Ireland | Bank of Ireland |
| Italy | Intesa Sanpaolo |
| Jamaica | EXIM Bank Jamaica |
| Japan | MUFG |
| Jordan | Arab Bank |
| Kazakhstan | Eurasian Bank |
| Kenya | Standard Chartered |
| Kuwait | National Bank of Kuwait |
| Latvia | Swedbank |
| Lithuania | SEB |
| Luxembourg | BGL BNP Paribas |
| Malaysia | Maybank |
| Malta | HSBC Malta |
| Mauritius | TDB Group |
| Mexico | BBVA |
| Mongolia | Trade and Development Bank of Mongolia |
| Morocco | Banque Centrale Populaire |
| Mozambique | Standard Bank |
| Namibia | RMB Namibia |
| Netherlands | ING |
| New Zealand | ANZ |
| Nigeria | Titan Trust Bank |
| Norway | Nordea |
| Oman | Ahli Bank |
| Pakistan | Habib Bank |
| Panama | Banco Mercantil Panamá |
| Paraguay | Itaú Paraguay |
| Peru | BBVA |
| Philippines | Bank of Commerce |
| Poland | Bank Pekao |
| Portugal | novobanco |
| Qatar | Qatar Development Bank |
| Romania | Societe Generale |
| Rwanda | Ecobank |
| Saudi Arabia | SAB |
| Senegal | Societe Generale |
| Serbia | UniCredit |
| Singapore | DBS |
| Slovakia | CSOB Slovakia |
| South Africa | Absa |
| South Korea | Hana Bank |
| Spain | BBVA |
| Sweden | Handelsbanken |
| Switzerland | Bank CIC |
| Taiwan | DBS |
| Tanzania | NBC |
| Thailand | Kasikorn Bank |
| Tunisia | Bank ABC |
| Turkey | Akbank |
| United Arab Emirates | Emirates NBD |
| United Kingdom | NatWest |
| United States | Citi |
| Uruguay | BBVA |
| Uzbekistan | Hamkorbank |
| Vietnam | Standard Chartered |
| Zambia | Zanaco |
| US REGIONAL BANKS | |
| Far West | Umpqua Bank |
| Great Lakes | Fifth Third Bank |
| Mid-Atlantic | PNC Bank |
| New England | Citizens Bank |
| Plains | US Bank |
| Rocky Mountain | Bank of the West |
| Southeast | Truist Bank |
| Southwest | PNC Bank |
BNY Mellon is the preferred bank for other financial institutions trying to cut expenses without sacrificing trade finance clients because of its extensive trade outsourcing services. For instance, many global financial institutions have limited the quantity of Swift Relationship Management Application (RMA) exchanges they have with their correspondent banks to reduce compliance costs. With BNY Mellon acting as an intermediary bank for their letter of credit activity, banks can use RMA, a service that BNY Mellon developed, to help them route their Swift MT 700 letter of credit messages directly to the beneficiaries’ banks.
Corporate buyers can be assured of cash optimization through a multibank supply chain finance program that collaborates with fintechs, while also supporting the working capital requirements of their suppliers.
Finastra holds approximately 28% of the estimated global trade finance market and supports more than 200 banks that provide supply chain and trade finance globally. Finastra provides an aggregation solution for banks and, via its FusionFabric.cloud marketplace platform, a burgeoning ecosystem of services that facilitate the handling and management of digital documents through distributed ledger technology (DLT).
Among the notable collaborations are Cleareye.ai and ClearTrade, whose advanced artificial intelligence (AI) solution can help banks increase operational productivity by 70% by automating manual and extremely paper-intensive operations as well as strict regulatory and compliance processes. Thanks to a multiyear global agreement with Microsoft, banks now have more scalability, flexibility, and agility with a full microservices architecture. Working with IBM on its Connected Trade Platform offers strong support for industry standards and best practices, enterprise-level security, and workflow customization.
New developments in Santander trade finance include an advanced multibank platform that combines the scalability and the best user experience; suppliers can travel a fully digitalized path, and buyers can choose from a variety of connectivity options; enterprise resource planning integration is also available; and supply chain finance, cash management, and foreign exchange solutions can all be accessed from a single point of entry. In collaboration with Norwegian fintech Two and insurer Allianz Trade, a business-to-business buy-now-pay-later offering offers a creative approach to handle the entire supply chain, from purchase order financing—with the addition of a new pre-confirming option—to invoice reconciliation.
“Technology is shaping a new trade ecosystem in which constant innovation, efficiency, and cost containment are the cornerstones of business development, imposing fierce competitiveness among corporates,” states Mencía Bobo, global head of Trade and Working Capital Solutions at Santander Corporate & Investment Banking. “It is also a driver for inclusion since digitalization maximizes volume, significantly reduces time, and provides efficiency, ultimately making it easier for SMEs [small and midsize enterprises] to participate in international trade and access competitive financing.”
The LiquidX platform is an end-to-end digital trade finance solution that streamlines manual processes by combining all endpoints—from origin to settlement—into a single location, independent of the platforms used by clients. LiquidX is a machine learning pipeline that combines the most advanced computer vision and natural language processing methods into a scalable framework to digitize legacy assets like purchase orders and invoices. An asset that has been digitally transformed is then validated, connected to related contracts, and dynamically linked to automated workflows.
Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP) developed the Automated Workflow for Trade Finance to boost the trade finance supply chain’s effectiveness and support growing business volumes. The Trade AI platform from ISP was first used for automating conformance checks of documentation. The ongoing integration of Trade AI and ISP back-end systems is being worked on to allow the bank’s operators to use a single platform. ISP is setting the groundwork for a smooth trade finance service as the industry continues to digitize.
BNP Paribas is still at the top of the pack; it topped Dealogic’s league tables for the sustainable bond and loan markets, was named the world’s best issuer of social bonds in 2021, and topped the list for sustainable finance bond underwriting in the first half of 2023 with a 6.4% market share, up 1.1 market share points from the previous year.
In June, BNP Paribas introduced its European Impact Bonds Fund 2, a new €70 million (approximately $76 million) fund to boost the impact bond market throughout the European Union, three years after launching the first-ever Social Impact Bonds fund in France.
In 2023, BNP Paribas will stop providing funding for any new exploration or production of oil and gas. In addition, the bank is leading the way in promoting the circular economy. Among these are the first sustainability-linked bond (SLB) for L’Oreal, which aims to recycle or bio-base 50% of its plastic packaging by 2025; a sustainability-linked loan for Marks and Spencer to eliminate disposable plastics from its packaging portfolio; and assistance with an SLB for H&M that aims to increase the use of recycled materials to 30%.
Surecomp’s trade finance platform, RIVO, facilitates communication between users and all trade participants through a centralized digital hub, resulting in a streamlined and transparent transaction process. RIVO provides confidence to all parties involved in a trade transaction, from vessel tracking and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scoring to legal entity identifiers to verify the identity of trading partners.
According to Enno-Burghard Weitzel, senior vice president for strategy, digitalization, and business development at Surecomp, “Surecomp aggregates functionalities and makes it easy to use, and that’s where we see our part.” Corporates, financial institutions, and fintechs can process trade finance more easily and sustainably with the help of Surecomp’s solutions, which range from the effective execution of guarantee requests and the ability for corporates to select competitive rates across multiple financiers to invoice validation and fraud prevention.
Taurus is a platform for digital assets that allows tokenized assets, digital currencies, and cryptocurrency custody, issuance, and management. Taurus serves more than thirty of the top financial institutions, including six systemic banks, and has clients in nine different countries across three continents. The first autonomously regulated marketplace in the world, Taurus’ TDX platform debuted in 2021 and instantly links banks, issuers, and investors to exchange any kind of digital asset. In terms of blockchain and digital assets, it currently leads the European market. Taurus can issue, store, move, and exchange on both public and private blockchains.
According to Taurus, the digital asset industry’s new norm is the digitization of securities and private assets. Tokenization, digital asset custody, and digital asset nodes are all part of the Taurus technology stack. The trading of tokenized securities is facilitated by a license obtained from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority.
The export finance teams of Credit Agricole are present in 20 countries, and their reach is further enhanced by the presence of Credit Agricole CIB and Credit Agricole Group in nearly 50 countries globally. They offer financings sponsored or supported by multilateral and development banks (the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Finance Corporation, European Investment Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, African Development Bank, etc.); commercial loans tied to export contracts, untied loan programs, or investment guarantees granted by ECAs. They also offer export credits and supplier credits covered entirely or in part by an export credit agency (ECA).
Credit Agricole is in a good position to offer customized financing and advisory solutions for a range of projects across all sectors thanks to its established relationships with more than 20 ECAs, as well as its strong relationships with corporate clients and government ministries. The committed Export Finance Structuring team, which consists of sustainability specialists, collaborates closely with origination teams.
The primary focus of TDB’s trade finance operations is on bolstering the capacity of national and regional financial institutions, facilitating greater intra- and inter-African trade and regional integration, sourcing strategic commodities, increasing high-value exports and export diversification, and supporting industrialization, technology transfer, and higher productivity through equipment imports. Products include pre- and post-shipment finance, structured commodity finance, letters of credit, guarantees, and bonds; supplier-focused working capital offerings, such as invoice discounting and financing for the purchase of receivables.
Trade flows to and from Africa and the Middle East are the focus of the British Arab Commercial Bank (BACB), which has offices in Abidjan, Algiers, and Tripoli in addition to active relationships in many other countries in Africa and beyond.
As a specialized bank, BACB has been assisting businesses in developing markets to trade internationally for more than 50 years. In nations where many larger banks have no interest, BACB is helping to close the trade finance gap for companies.
Standard Bank is ideally positioned to address trade finance needs in Africa, having local offices in 20 sub-Saharan African countries as well as major financial hubs such as Beijing, Dubai, New York, London, and New Jersey. Through the DP World Trade Finance platform, African companies can now obtain working capital from Standard Bank thanks to a recent partnership with DP World, a global leader in supply chain offerings. Important renminbi currency links are provided by a strategic partnership with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, enhancing Sino-African cooperation.
In 2022, the bank introduced its cloud-based TradeOnline platform. Through the digital submission of instructions and the ability to replicate completed transactions using preapproved guarantee wording and Swift templates, the platform increases supply chain efficiencies and promotes transparency for all parties involved.
Pre-export finance (PEF), specialized inventory solutions (SIS), and trade borrowing base finance (TBBF) are just a few of the trade solutions that DBS provides. A trade solution called PEF finances a seller before their export of goods or services. It facilitates the search for and acquisition of raw materials as well as the assembly of functional parts for export. By doing this, the seller is guaranteed to have the money needed to complete export orders. Through a collaboration with Inventory Solution Providers, SIS is a procurement solution made available. As pool-based trade financing, TBBF responds to fluctuations in demand and aligns funding needs with a company’s level of trade assets. These financing options all contribute to the resilience of the supply chain.
DBS was a pioneer in trade digitalization and has supported electronic bills of lading (eBL) by bridging digital islands and getting past the limitations of the current eBL closed-loop platform. To do this, DBS uses the TradeTrust framework and digital wallets to verify the provenance, authenticity, and title ownership of a bill of lading and to enable trade documents and title transfers.
The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) supports effective trade policy and planning, assists governments in overcoming technical trade barriers, streamlines and harmonizes export procedures, supports customs departments and other border agencies, and supports regional trade agreements. The CDB is focused on the implementation of regional and multilateral trading agreements and trade facilitation.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in October by the World Trade Organization and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to work together on trade-related technical assistance and trade capacity-building initiatives aimed at both Caribbean and non-Caribbean nations.
Each of the 12 Central and Eastern European (CEE) member banks that make up the RBI Group has a fully functional trade finance unit. Updates to the eTradeOn online trade portal allow corporate clients to view all received quotations through an intuitive dashboard and submit inquiries for confirmations of letters of credit and guarantees. With just a few clicks, users can now copy and paste ESG data from one transaction to another, another improvement to RBI’s ESG flagging tool.
While the Middle East and North Africa, Asia, the former Soviet Union, and CEE constitute RBI’s primary trade finance market, a strong emphasis on these regions also guarantees support for clients operating in these regions.
BBVA has invested in the highest level of do-it-yourself traceability of its trade finance products in the region, in addition to its local offerings, which include international guarantees, letters of credit, silent guarantees, import and export financing, trade loans, A/B loans, prepayment to exporters, factoring and reverse factoring, vendor factoring, forfeiting, and usance payable at sight letters of credit. To combat climate change and advance sustainable infrastructure, agribusiness, entrepreneurship, and financial inclusion, BBVA plans to mobilize €300 billion in green finance by 2025.
With its main headquarters in Bahrain, Bank ABC is well-represented in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries as well as Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Jordan, and Libya. Bank ABC witnessed a notable surge in the volumes of documentary trade business in 2023. Future global trade finance business will be strengthened by the introduction of new digital platforms for documentary trade and supply chain finance, as well as the first phase of the Wholesale Banking Corporate Portal.
MUFG clients can take advantage of Trade Manager, an online comprehensive trade portal for corporate clients, in addition to a vast global network of specialized trade finance and risk advisory teams. It facilitates the real-time start and management of daily trade transactions, with trade transactions conveniently accessible from a dashboard that can be customized.
MUFG, a leader in the global securitization market, has outstanding exposure totaling over €25 billion from more than 150 transactions. Trade receivables securitization is becoming more and more popular as corporates look to it to free up cash flows in the face of market uncertainty. When comparing prices with other long-term unsecured facilities, MUFG can provide competitive rates.
Societe Generale has an international trade network spanning 37 nations, enabling them to provide a comprehensive array of creative and ethical offerings, including structured, customized, and documentary services. With a focus on ESG, Societe Generale can better support corporate clients’ ESG strategies by providing an ESG version of all of its offerings and collaborating with them on all aspects of the process, from financing and needs security to advisory. With the introduction of the trade finance platform Easytrade in 2023, communication between businesses and the bank will be streamlined, increasing speed and efficiency while maintaining high security and dependability across all trade finance operations.
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